Combined cover and operating device for toggle switches



L. G. PERETTI July 5, 1955 Filed Oct. 17, 1952 United States Patent COMBINED COVER AND OPERATING DEVICE FOR TGGGLE SWITCHES Leonard G. Peretti, Chicago, Ill.

Application October 17, 1952, Serial No. 315,346

1 Claim. (Ci. 20l)172) This invention relates to a cover for a toggle switch, and more particularly, has reference to a cover having incorporated therein a switch-operating means, whereby manipulation of a component part of the cover will be efiective to swing the conventional switch handle to on or off positions.

Summarized briefly, the invention comprises a cover plate for conventional toggle switches which can be readily substituted for the ordinary cover plate provided upon said switches. The cover plate formed in accordance with the present invention has the simulation of the face of a clown or the like, the face being provided with a bulbous nose simulation that receives the conventional toggle switch handle. The switch-handlereceiving nose piece, in this connection, is slidable upon the main plate of the device, so as to be capable of being grasped for the purpose of swinging the tog le switch handle to on or off positions. Associated with the nose piece is a movable plate that slides with the nose piece, the movable plate being disposed rearwardly of the main plate and having eye markings thereon, said markings being registrable with apertures formed in the main plate. The eye markings, in this connection, are so designed as to cause the clown or other creature to appear to be awake when the room lights are turned on, and asleep when the room lights are turned off.

By providing a cover for toggle switches formed as summarized above, it is proposed to add an attractive and appealing fixture to the furnishings of a childs room.

Another object is to provide a device as stated which will encourage switch operation by the child, thus to increase the self-sufiiciency of the child.

Still another object is to provide a switch cover and operating device of the type stated which can be substituted for a conventional switch cover, merely by removal of the ordinary cover mounting screws, and eX- tension of said mounting screws through the main plate of the device.

Yet another object is to provide a device of the type stated which can be manufactured at relatively low cost, considering the attractiveness and utility thereof.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended tiereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure l is a front elevational view of a switch cover and operating device formed in accordance with the resent invention, a wall on which said device is mounted being illustrated fragmentarily;

Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view, taken on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral 10 has been applied to a room wall, said wall having a rectangular opening 12 in which is fixedly moun ed a conventional outlet box 14 enclosing a toggle switch 16, the toggle switch 16 being secured to the box 14 by means of the usual mounting plate 18. The plate 18 is connected to the outlet box by means of screws 26, thus to cause the handle 22 of the switch to project forwardly from the wall.

Formed in the plate 18, at locations spaced longitudiuaiiy of said plate, are threaded openings 24, in which are engaged plate mounting screws 26.

All this is conventional construction, and does not per se constitute part of the present invention. It will be understood that ordinarily, the screws 26 pass through openings formed in a conventional, rectangular, cover plate or escutcheon, not shown.

The device constituting the present invention includes a main plate 28 having a peripheral flange 30 engageable against the outer surface of the Wall 10. The main plate 28 has openings 32 receiving the screws 26, and when the screws 26 are turned home in their associated threaded openings 24, the mam plate is fixedly positioned against the wall, with the flange 30 spacing the body of the plate outwardly from said wall, as shown in Figure 2.

As will be apparent from Figure 1, the main plate 28 is formed in the simulation of the face of a creature. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the simulated face is that of a clown. However, it will be apparent that the face of another human, or of an animal or bird, can be used, if desired. In fact, I believe that in some commercial embodiments of the invention, the simulation need not necessarily be that of a face, but of the entire creature or some other part of said creature.

in any event, mounted in back of the main plate 28, in the space between the body of the main plate and the wall It), is a movable plate 34, said movable plate having slots 36 opening inwardly from opposite ends thereof (Figure 3), the slots providing clearances for the screws 26. The movable plate 34 is slidably reciprocable upon the main plate, being shiftable upwardly or downwardly, as desired.

Formed in the center portion of the main plate 28 is a rectangular guide opening 38, in which is engaged a forwardly projected boss 46 formed upon the movable plate 34. The boss 40 is coextensive in Width with the Width of the opening 38, thus to guide the movable plate in its up and down movement relative to the main plate. However, the opening 38 is longer than the boss (See Figure 2), thus to allow the movable plate the desired freedom of reciprocation upon the main plate, within predetermined limits.

Formed in the boss 43 is an opening 42, in which is received the switch handle 22.

On the movable plate 34 I provide transversely spaced eye markings 44. These are visible through openings 46 formed in the main plate 28, when the movable plate is shifted upwardly relative to the main plate.

Above the eye markings 44 are other eye markings 48, the eye markings 44 representing open eyes, and the markings 48 representing closed eyes.

When the plate 34 is shifted downwardly, the markings 48 will be visible through the openings 46, so that the clown will now appear to be asleep.

Overlying the front surface of the main plate 28, and cemented or otherwise fixedly attached to the boss 40, is a handle piece 50, said handle piece having in its back surface a recess 52 communicating with opening 42. The handle 22 extends into the recess 5'2, and is engageable at its free end by the top or bottom wall of said recess 52, depending upon the position or" the movable plate and its associated handle piece 50.

The handle piece St) is formed, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, in the simulation of a bulbous nose, and it will be apparent that one desiring to turn on the room lights would press upwardly upon the clowns nose. This would swing the switch handle 22 to its up or on position, and at the same time, the eye markings 44 will become registered with the apertures 46. Thus, the clown will seem to awake simultaneously with turning on of the room lights.

When it is desired to turn off the room lights, the

handle piece 50 is pressed downwardly, and. pressing down on the clowns nose in this manner is etfective to shift the handle 22 to its down or off position,

I It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessan'ly confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may 'be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the] specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted Within the scope of the appended claim.

' What is claimed is:

A cover and operating device for a toggle switch having a handle, comprising a main plate formed in the simulation of ahuman face and having a centrally located opening through which said handle is extendable, said main plate'having a pair of horizontally spaced apertures above and at opposite sides of said opening at the location of the eyes of said face; a movable plate slidably reciprocable on the main plate behind the same, said movable plate being formed with a boss slidably engaged in said opening and having an orifice through which said handle is extendable, the movable plate sliding between opposite extreme positions responsive to movement of the handle between on and off positions, the movable plate having side portions visible through the apertures in both of said extreme positions,

said portions having two pairs of human eyes delineated thereon, the 'eyes of one pair being open and being registered with the apertures in one extreme position of the movable plate, and the eyes of the other'pair being closed and being registered with the apertures in the other extreme positionof the movable plate; and a handle piece fixed to the movable plate in front of the 'main plate and formed in the simulation of the nose of the face, the handle piece having a recess communicating with said orifice to receive the switch handle,'for operating the switch responsive to manual reciprocation of the handle piece over the surface of the main plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

